Ant-sheet-cutter: detailed description, photo, lifestyle

In the world there is a huge number of insects. The leaflet ant, the photo of which you will find in this article, is interesting in its way of life and appearance. Its name speaks for itself. It immediately becomes clear what his colleagues are doing. But why do they need to cut the leaves?

Common insects

These ants live in Central and South America. Their appearance is remarkable in that there is a pair of large and strong jaws on the muzzle. They are hard and sharp, slightly curved inward. On the inner edge they have several notches. These adaptations help the leaf-cutter to gnaw the leaves of tropical trees. The head of this insect is large. It should be so. After all, on a small head it would be difficult to keep massive jaws. The size of leaf-cutting ants is not very large. In length they reach 5-20 millimeters. Their body color is brown. The uterus is different in size. They are large, with a wide, developed chest. In the lower part of the head of the uterus of the ant-leaflet there is a special pocket. Before mating, she grows her wings, and after it bites them herself.

original name

In order to well imagine the process of creating a new colony of ants, we must return to the question of why leaf-cutting ants received such a name. Observing these insects, people concluded that they feed on plants. This was due to the fact that the leaf-cutting ant, distributed in America, destroys the leaves of plants. If the colony has got down to business, in a short period of time only the branches and trunk remain from the tree. What do they do with the leaves? Are eating? This assumption turned out to be incorrect. Yes, indeed, the leaf-cutting ants, the description of which you will find in this article, chew on the leaves, but not in order to eat.

Your own vegetable garden

The process of destroying the foliage is very interesting for them. Some individuals cut the leaf off the cuttings, then other ants specialize in gnawing small pieces and dragging them into the house. Separate rooms of his anthill are reserved for growing mushrooms. And leaves serve as a nutrient medium. To make mushrooms grow better, these insects use special fertilizers - their excrement, which they put on each leaf. But ants do not just eat mushrooms. They make sure that they do not grow too big and regularly cut them. Then in the place of the incision, droplets are formed, which serve as food for them. Ants lick these drops, and their saliva, containing a large number of antibiotics, destroys harmful fungi and bacteria that can damage their mycelium. In order to feed enough of the entire colony, these insects can grow about 100 mushrooms. And one weighs about 500 grams.

Females are more important

The ant-leaf cutter whose lifestyle is certainly interesting, reproduces too, is original. To grow insect-capable insects, special individuals feed the larvae, adding to their food special substances that stimulate sexual development. The females and males that grow from these larvae mate with each other. And the female needs a large amount of sperm, so she mates with several males. After mating, which lasts only one day, the males die.

Own house

The construction of a new family begins with the departure of the female. She flies not with empty paws, or rather jaws. In her special pocket, she takes away a piece of mycelium, to settle in a new place, start to arrange new plantings. Finding a suitable place, the female digs a passage under the ground. There she makes a hole in which she plants a mycelium. Next she lays eggs. Initially, she takes care of her children and the "garden." And the female eats its eggs and partially born young. Over time, the ants grow up and begin to follow the mushrooms themselves. Then the queen goes to rest. In one anthill there must be one uterus. If she dies, then the workers begin to take care of the eggs.

Precisely grow

Having seen the larva of the ant-leaf cutter, with the description of which you have already met, you will not say that a strong ant will grow out of it. It looks like a little white worm. She does not have eyes, limbs, and she will die without special care. And for proper growth and development, we need to monitor not only the proper feeding of the larvae, but also the conditions in which they are located. The temperature and humidity of air must be maintained at a certain level. Larvae of the ants feed their own eggs, gradually transferring to mushrooms. It is interesting that males grow from unfertilized eggs. From fertilized - females, which in time will become working individuals or uterus.

So they live

Scientists have investigated how the house looks like ants. Even it became known why they build it underground, and not on trees, closer to the leaves that they so need. The fact is that in the depth of the soil there are almost no temperature changes, which can be dangerous for growing mushrooms. Also under such conditions, the mycelium is protected from high humidity, which has a harmful effect on it. To understand how the house of leaf-cutting ants is arranged, one must imagine a giant egg in a section. The safest place is in the center. It is there that the camera in which the uterus lives lives. This cell is surrounded by special children's "rooms". It is in them that larvae are grown from eggs. In the outer chambers, mushrooms are grown. It is interesting that some leaf-cutting ants clean up their houses and take out the garbage outside. Others put it in special garbage "rooms."

Lesson for the soul

It is interesting that different ants perform different functions in ants. Among them there are those who look after the uterus, behind the house, behind the farm. Others guard an anthill, extract leaves. And even by size, these insects are different. The smallest - working ants. The largest is the uterus. It weighs 700 times more than a small specimen. But the soldiers are not in every colony. Only in the largest and most powerful there is protection. Interesting insects are leaf-cutting ants. "What are they needed for?" - someone will be interested.

Uneasy pests

At first glance it seems that these insects bring one harm. Indeed, if they are too many, perhaps they can eat the whole forest. That is, over time, turn our planet into a desert. However, this does not happen. Apparently, nature itself maintains a certain balance. After all, leaf-cutting ants have natural enemies that do not allow them to spread much. People also struggle with these insects, preventing them from approaching cultural plantings. To do this, destroy their nests with the help of chemicals, and also arrange metal, plastic or water barriers around the trees. Under natural conditions, the underground activity of leaf-cutting ants even contributes to the enrichment of soil layers and the acceleration of ecosystem processes. In addition, the leaf-cutting ants themselves became food for man. Fried insects have long been eaten in South America and other countries.

In our time, only pets do not contain! Some people have leaf-cutting ants. Of course, they do not live in a garden plot, but in special insectories, in which special conditions of detention are created. It is interesting to observe these insects, but still they must live in a natural habitat. If you are not going to go to South America in the near future, then leaf-cutting ants can be seen at the Moscow Zoo.